Orianna Hill Park

This neighborhood dog park and community garden is the site of one of the first community efforts to establish green space in Northern Liberties. Owned by the city's Redevelopment Authority (RDA), for years the abandoned lot was used as an automobile chop-shop. In the1970s, the Old First Reformed Church of Philadelphia cleaned it up and remade it into a children's day camp. Thereafter the church shared the lot with neighbors who were greening the park. Eventually neighbors, local artists, and young people planted gardens, painted murals, and built a fence. By the 1990s, the park became a de facto dog run, and the church relocated its camp. In 2000 the neighbors incorporated the nonprofit organization Friends of Orianna Hill Park and bought the lot from the RDA. Today Orianna Hill Park is a privately owned community garden and dog park—the only officially legal dog park in Philadelphia.